Study shows benefits of vitamin D, calcium limited for older women

For many years older women have been advised by their physicians to take calcium and vitamin D pills to protect their bones as they age.

But according to the latest and the biggest research ever conducted to examine the value of that timeworn advice, calcium and vitamin D pills provide only limited protection. They failed to protect against most fractures in the mostly low-risk female patients.

At the same time, the supplements seemed to protect against hip breaks among women over 60 years of age and those taking the pills faithfully.

The research is "not as ringing an endorsement of calcium as one might like," said one of the investigators, Dr. Norman Lasser at New Jersey Medical School.

But still, he and other experts are encoura View the rest of this article